Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Old Railroad Trestle at Riflesight Notch

Here are some pictures of an old railroad trestle near Rollins Pass at Riflesight Notch in Colorado. It last saw a train way back in the 1920's, I believe.

This first photo shows the trestle and that it is clearly blocked off from traffic. The grade to the left of the bridge is a road easily navigated by automobiles but the road takes a detour to the left.



The next photo shows the same view from a bit farther away. The grade continues to the right around the hill descending in a loop that actually went through a tunnel right below the trestle. The tunnel is completely covered at both ends so no entry is possible. I believe this was Tunnel #33.



Another view of the trestle.



Some of the wood has come off of the surface. You can see how big the timbers were on the bridge. I don't think there are any trees in the area that are large enough to create timbers of this size so I guess that they came from somewhere else. On the other hand, since this bridge if about 100 years old, maybe there were larger trees in the area back then.



Does this look safe enough to cross? Just remember that it is about 13 miles from the nearest main road.



This photo is from well below where the other photos were taken. The tunnel was in the cut in the foreground.

Friday, August 08, 2008

Columbines

The state flower of Colorado is featured here. Here are a few that Heather took today along the Rollins Pass road. I saw some smaller dark blue versions earlier this year in Deer Creek Canyon Park. The ones shown here are about 3 inches across. They are interesting and beautiful flowers. If you click on each picture you will see a larger version.